Buffy Logo 'Becoming' - Part 1
Story Code '5V21'

by Joss Whedon
Buffy

Galway, Ireland, in the year 1753: a young man named Angel encounters the beautiful Darla, who offers to show him her world; intrigued, he agrees - and she turns him into a vampire.

In Sunnydale, 1998, Giles is asked by the museum to examine an unknown stone artefact.

London, 1860; a girl named Drusilla enters a church for confession; however, the priest has been killed by Angelus, who takes his place in the confession booth and tells Drusilla that because of the visions she has been seeing she is the spawn of Satan.

Sunnydale, 1998: while in Willow's computer classroom, Buffy finds a floppy disc trapped between two desks; she and Willow are thrilled to discover that it contains Ms Calendar's translation for the spell that will restore Angel's soul.

Romania, 1898: the body of a murdered gypsy girl lies on the ground while her clan perform a curse on Angelus, saying that he will forever remember the pain he has caused.

Sunnydale, 1998: Angelus tells Spike about the demon Acathla, who possesses the power to swallow the earth into hell. Buffy gets into an argument with Xander, who thinks that she only wants her boyfriend back. Kendra arrives at the library and informs Giles and Buffy that her Watcher sensed a great evil and thought she might be needed. Meanwhile, Angelus and Drusilla steal the stone artefact.

Manhattan, 1996: Angel, now living as a tramp and feeding off of rats, is approached by a demon named Whistler, who offers him the chance to regain his dignity.

Los Angeles, 1996: Whistler shows Angel the Chosen One - Buffy - while she is still a normal teenager; together they observe her earliest meeting with her first Watcher, Merrick. Whistler tells Angel that Buffy is just a child, and that she will need his help in her battle against evil.

Sunnydale, 1998: Angelus is unable to open the stone tomb that contains Acathla. Buffy is in class when a vampire appears and delivers a message from Angelus to meet him that evening in the graveyard; the creature then bursts into flames. Buffy makes the rendezvous alone, but after a fight with Angel he simply walks away. Too late she realises that it was a trap to get her away from her friends; at the library, Giles and Willow are in the middle of reciting the spell to restore Angel's soul when vampires attack, knocking Willow and Xander unconscious, and kidnapping Giles, while Drusilla kills Kendra. Buffy arrives only to be blamed by the police for Kendra's death…

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), David Boreanaz (Angel), Anthony Stewart Head (Rupert Giles), Seth Green (Oz), James Marsters (Spike), Juliet Landau (Drusilla), Julie Benz (Darla), Bianca Lawson (Kendra), Armin Shimerman (Principal Snyder), Max Perlich (Whistler), Jack McGee (Doug Perren), Richard Riehle (L.A. Watcher), Shannon Welles (Gypsy woman), Zitto Kazann (Gypsy man), Ginger Williams (Girl), Nina Gervitz (Teacher)
Directed by Joss Whedon

TX (US): 12th May 1998
TX (UK - Sky One): 13th August 1999
TX (UK - BBC): 9th March 2000

Notes:
*Featuring Buffy, Xander, Willow, Giles, Oz, Cordelia and Angel

*Parts one and two are sometimes shown joined together as a double-length epsiode